Discussion (14) ¬

I’ve heard “cis” said many times, by many people in three different areas of the U.S., and everyone has pronounced it “sis”, not “sizz”. Is there a place where “sizz” is a common pronunciation? Or is that just how Cohen heard it?

Old discussion, I know, but in “cisatlantic” it’s the ‘siss’ sound. I really can’t find any sources that say ‘sizz’ in any context other than this strip. Is there a community using this pronunciation or is this a one-cartoonist crusade? (I am fascinated by community linguistic drift.)

“Sizz” is definitely a mispronunciation. Cis is a specific Latin prefix: “this side of.” (Trans is “the other side of.”) Cis is pronounced in Latin as a homonym of “sis,” so that is the correct way of saying it (and why that’s the most common). Pronouncing trans as “trance” would be similarly wrong.

Fun linguistic fact: it’s natural for pronunciations to shift over time, especially when words are adopted from one language into another! Look up the history of “orange” or “newt” or “extrovert” some time. Or listen to how “allies” was pronounced in WWII newsreels, or “website” in commercials from the 90s.

And seriously, if we don’t have to count using the original Roman numerals, then we don’t need to speak English using the original Latin vocalizations, either.